After an indulgent month-long trip to the UK I landed back in The Gambia on Saturday evening to a much greener country than the one I left. Travelling by taxi to find essential supplies on the drive back, we ventured down sandy roads that have been so obliterated by the rain it was like driving on the surface of the moon. Arriving back at the house in the dark prevented me from noticing any changes to the neighbourhood, but I was relieved to find my house still standing. I was even more relieved to discover that cockroaches had not taken over in my absence!
The house was fine - no real changes apart from smelling a bit musty and being very hot with the windows closed. The lovely Yama had been in during the day to make it nice for me, turning on the fridge and thankfully chilling and freezing many bottles of water for my return. During the night I woke to find the wind howling around me, the roof vibrating with rain drops and lightening illuminating the room. After a month of travelling the UK and sleeping in many different beds I was completely confused about where I was, and couldn't work out why England was experiencing such dramatic weather. A few seconds later I realised what was going on and scrambled round the house shutting all the windows before the house flooded.
The rain continued pretty much all the next morning, sometimes heavy and loud and other times steady and persistent. I had to mop up a few puddles of water that found their way under doors or through windows but I was grateful that my roof was holding up!
The daylight did give me chance to check around outside however, and it was lovely to see grass and green leaves everywhere. I even found that a huge amount of basil had come up in the pot outside my door!
Walking to work on Monday was more pleasant than I imagined - people greeted me by name, with the usual cries of 'long time' sounding much more sincere, and I bumped into Awa, Nicola's cleaner who asked after Dr Helen. The staff at the office seemed really pleased to see me (maybe it was the tin of biscuits) and I felt genuinely welcomed back into my Gambian life. The nice thing about this place is the size - you bump into people you know and see friends in the street, and you feel like you are really part of a community.
Monday evening was slightly less pleasant after realising - once everyone else's electricity came back on and mine didn't - that I had been disconnected by NAWEC during the day. The plan that I had in place to pay my bill while away had failed, so they cut me off. So this morning I went to the NAWEC office to sort it out, greeted by more acquaintances along the way. After paying my bill and a reconnection fee at the counter I was directed into the back to speak to Ishmaela, who added my name to the list of people to be reconnected during the day. As I wandered round to the back office, checking with people where Ishmaela was along the way, it dawned on me that it felt completely normal and familiar to be going through such a convoluted process and talking to about 4 different people just to pay my bill. I remember being cut off when I first arrived and it felt like an absolute nightmare. This morning felt kinda normal! It made me realise that when you know the system you can adapt to anything, and although arriving back into a hot, humid, wet, green Gambia was a bit of a shock after being in orderly England for a month, it really does feel good to be here.
